In 1934 church leaders again called Widtsoe as church commissioner of education. He served until 1936. Concerned about the quality of education in church institutions of higher learning, Widtsoe had urged the church to increase its appropriations for BYU. Under Widtsoe’s commissionership, the church increase its annual appropriation to BYU from $200,000 to $300,000 per year. The remainder of its operating fund came from donations and from low faculty salaries. Franklin S. Harris, one of Widtsoe’s protégés, was then serving as president, and worked energetically to improve the quality of the faculty and facilities. In the 1920s, only a minority of the BYU faculty held the PhD, but Harris managed to secure accreditation and to hire faculty of the stature of Lowry Nelson and Carl F. Eyring. He also urged faculty members to obtain graduate degrees; promoted faculty research, a requirement at any university; and convinced the church to construct a new library, which it named for President Grant.